The Young Lion

After entering 1997, Millwall seems to have new changes every day, with innovative posters, a brand new banner for the club, the official website is online, and a blue lion is added as a mascot on the sidelines of the home game. .

After killing Tottenham in the FA Cup in early March, Millwall advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. In the league, they entered a rhythm of tying one game and winning one game. The closer, Ferguson began psychological warfare, claiming that Millwall will eventually collapse like last season.

Before every press conference of the league, Aldridge almost has to formulate it again: If Manchester United perform well, the league title will be theirs.

The war in Europe was rekindled. On Wednesday afternoon, the Millwall team packed their bags and boarded the plane to Bergen, Norway under the leadership of the coaching staff.

In the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup, they will be a guest in the first round to challenge the Norwegian powerhouse Bran.

The official has chartered a small airliner, not only all the players of the first team set out, but also 18 people from the youth team.

The first team all sat in the front of the cabin, and the youth team players and coaches all sat in the back row, with the exception of Najib, who sat next to Aldridge, and the two discussed the itinerary of the youth team.

It was Aldrich's idea to let the youth team go with the team to the away game in Europe. This is not only to cultivate the youth players' sense of belonging to the team, but also to take this opportunity to exchange ideas with clubs from all over Europe. As for the cost of the trip, that is all sideways. Minimal details are not worth mentioning.

When he went to Switzerland and Sion to play the second round of the European Cup Winners Cup, Aldrich noticed that these small Nordic countries also have good youth teams. Regardless of their strength, at least the style must be different from England. In order to avoid being assimilated by league opponents in England every day, Aldridge contacted the Bran club before going to Norway and suggested that the youth teams of the two teams play a friendly match.

The Bran Club readily agreed, anyway, they don't need to provide hotels for Millwall.

In addition, Aldridge also sent other clubs in Norway the intention of friendly matches for the youth team. Many clubs feel that it is quite fresh. It is common for the first team to play friendly matches, but they will not be held in the middle of the season. Most of them are pre-season friendly matches. , It was the first time that someone came to challenge the youth team on their own initiative.

Several clubs also agreed. As for the Millwall youth team's youth league and FA Youth Cup in England, Aldridge needn't worry too much. Originally, the youth league wasn't very strong because there weren't many participating teams. On average, there is only one game every ten days. As long as you apply to the FA to adjust the schedule, it is not a big deal. The FA Youth Cup schedule is even looser. The consecutive promotions only have two games in one and a half months.

The first team will return home after the away game against Bran,

At that time, Najib will take the youth team around Norway and step on the field in Norway under the banner of exchanges.

But then again, Aldridge really doesn't care about the youth team's record in Norway. The main purpose is to broaden the horizons of the youth players. After all, it is just training and local youth leagues, which are not enough. Najib will take the players to the community to find a street football team for the youth team to exercise.

Aldridge and Najib were discussing the schedule of the youth team on their notebooks. The noise behind the cabin made him unable to concentrate, so he turned around and shouted: Ronaldo, please be quiet!

It was the first time for these boys to experience this kind of scene. They were so excited that they were still restless on the plane. No, Ronaldinho was there teaching Ashley Cole to dance samba with great interest.

After being reprimanded by the head coach, Ronaldinho finally settled down.

The boys in the youth team stopped making loud noises, and the first-team players in front were very quiet. Those who played cards played cards, those who listened to music, and those who watched movies...

When the plane landed at Bergen International Airport at night, the players admired this beautiful harbor city from the window early on, and the charming night view quickly made the players remember this place.

After getting off the plane, the bus arranged in advance was already waiting outside the airport. Aldridge and his group boarded the bus with simple luggage bags on their backs and stayed in the hotel in the city.

Even though the first-team players didn't have much experience in European competitions, most of them had travel experience with the national team, so when they came to the hotel, they packed up and got ready to rest and recharge their batteries for tomorrow night's game.

But the youth team players were obviously overexcited and restless in the hotel. Villa and Joe Cole were about to sneak out and were caught by Najib. The players made such a fuss that the coaching staff of the youth team couldn't sleep all night. Najib's assistant, Mr. Franz, simply sat on a chair in the corridor to watch the night...

Bran's status in Norway is similar to that of Newcastle United in England. They have won the championship before, and now they only occasionally attack the championship, but they cannot form dominance. Root has always been sought after, and the football frenzy it triggered lasts for a long time.

The schedule of the youth team is relatively tight, so on the next morning, Najib led the youth team to the training ground of the Bran club youth team. Oslo, the capital of Norway, will challenge the youth team of the capital club on the second day.

The training ground of Bran’s youth team is not big, surrounded by only a small stand. All the nearby residents who have nothing to do came to watch the game. They all heard that a youth team came from England, and it was at night that they played European games with Bran. The club that is fighting against them will compete with their youth team here during the day.

Fans who follow mainstream European competitions know that this formerly unknown Millwall team has created a new winning streak in the five major leagues, and set a record of 18 consecutive victories in England, which can be said to be invincible in the Premier League.

So they really want to see what is so great about the youth team of such a club.

But they were disappointed.

Although the average age of the Millwall youth team led by Ronaldinho and the Bran youth team is somewhat different, because Villa and Ashley Cole are still 1516 years old, and Ronaldinho is about to turn 17 years old. Originally, the average age was not that old, but there shouldn't be a big difference in strength because of the age difference of one or two years.

However, in the match against the Bran youth team, the Millwall youth team played extremely badly. Najib watched anxiously from the sidelines, and his forehead was smoked with anger, while Aldrich sat in the stands and laughed.

Take a closer look, Ronaldinho, Joe Cole and others all played the game with dark circles under their eyes. Who knows what time they were playing in the hotel room last night.

The first half was not over yet, and the Millwall youth team fell behind 1:3.

Ronaldinho and other players who were mentally exhausted also knew that they played for too long last night and did not have a good rest, which caused their performance to be abnormal. Players are replaced.

The team's performance in the second half still did not improve, allowing Bran to score two more goals.

Every time a goal was scored, the coaches and players of the Bran youth team cheered happily, and the fans in the stands also applauded.

They think the strength of the Millwall youth team is simply scum!

It can be seen from this that their first team is not doing well. No wonder English football has been mediocre in the past ten years. It seems that Millwall is nothing more than a nest of rats in the Premier League.

Ronaldinho and other players who were substituted looked ashamed. Looking at the complacent expressions of the young players and coaches next door to Bran, this greatly hurt their self-esteem.

Aldridge in the stands was very happy. He felt that the decision to bring the youth team out was really right.

You have to let these guys understand that if you want to travel abroad and play football to win applause, how can there be such a good thing in the world?

I hope today's failure will teach them a lesson. As long as they are not shameless and shameless, players who have no sense of honor should be able to wake up.

After the game, Aldridge left the scene. In the afternoon, his players performed simple warm-up training at Bran's home court to adapt to the venue.

The weather in Norway is fine today, although it is not as warm as England's side, but when it comes to playing in the evening, it should feel just right to wear a long-sleeved shirt.

After training, Aldridge attended the official press conference.

The atmosphere at the press conference was a little weird.

There are quite a few reporters from the Nordic mainstream media, and there are also some reporters who follow and report UEFA events. The English reporters who came here with the team suppressed a smile, as if they expected something good to happen.

After Aldridge sat down, the local football reporter in Bergen said: Mr. Hall, did you watch the game in the morning?

Aldridge didn't react for a while, and asked instead: What game?

A match between the Millwall youth team and the Bran youth team.

Oh, look, does this have anything to do with tonight's game?

Millwall youth team lost 1:5, what do you think about it?

I don't think the youth team's game can represent anything. It is normal for those U18 players to have ups and downs, let alone coming to Norway from England, but this is a good exercise for them. Even if they lose, it is also a valuable experience. I feel good.

Is the score of 1:5 also good?

I don't understand what the score of 1:5 means? What are you trying to ask with this score? You confuse me. In England, there are teams in the youth league that can lose seven or eight games in a game, but So what? Don’t the players on the losing side stop playing in the future? Do you think they will not be successful in the future?”

Aldridge expressed his confusion with a blank face. Could it be that in Norway, training youth teams attaches great importance to the results of the game?

The English reporters in the audience, especially those who are familiar with Millwall, couldn't bear it anymore, and laughed while covering their mouths.

In the end, Richard said bluntly: Mr. Hall, Bran's head coach Calvin Ness just commented on the game in the morning at the press conference, and believes that from the performance of the youth team, the strength of Millwall's first team must be strong. Not too bad, he declared that tonight Bran will make the suspense of advancing to the semi-finals completely disappear at home, and will not give Millwall a chance to comeback when he returns to London.

Aldrich was stunned when he heard that, he didn't know the other side's head coach, and when he contacted the friendly match between the clubs, he directly negotiated with the executive director of the Bran club.

From the performance of the youth team to infer the strength of the first team?

Aldridge asked suspiciously.

The journalists in England laughed like crazy and kept nodding, which made their counterparts in Northern Europe despise their behavior. They are too serious and impolite!

Aldridge's expression became weird, and he was also holding back his laughter. He didn't know whether this Calvinis was overconfident or mentally retarded. He wrote lightly: Oh, well, we came here with the mentality of attaching great importance to the game. Coming here, for tonight's game, I am also very much looking forward to seeing Bran display his strongest strength and present a wonderful game to the fans. (m)